Coins: Haunted Canada, The Day of the Dead, Zombies

What’s a better way to get into the Halloween spirit than to add some ‘frightening’ coins to your collection? Here is just a sample of some coin series’ that have come out throughout the years that might just fulfill that love of all things spooky in your soul.

Haunted Canada Coin Trilogy

The Royal Canadian Mint released the Haunted Canada Coin Series, a coin series that aims to bring to life some of Canada’s legendary ghost stories. Coin collectors, who are interested in ghost stories and tragic love stories, should find this coin series intriguing.

The Ghost Bride CoinA 2014 25-Cent Cupronickel Coin, the Haunted Canada: Ghost Bride, features a portrait of a bride with her eyes closed. Until you tilt the coin and her eyes open and the once black background is filled with lit candles. Below the bride there is also an image of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, the 6th most haunted hotel in the world according to some sources.

The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel was built in 1888, located in the picturesque town of Banff, Alberta, the heart of Banff National Park. The luxury mountain getaway is legendary for its hospitality and attracts travelers, nature lovers and members of high society year-round. Legend has it that a ghost bride has been haunting the place since a fatal accident in the 1930s. The ghost bride stumbled and fell to her death down a curving stone staircase in the hotel: this happened shortly before the start of the wedding banquet. Stories have circulated for years now “about an apparition in a white wedding dress that moves quietly up and down the aforementioned staircase in the hotel.” There are some that even claim to have seen the bride dancing alone, the very same bride that was denied a first dance with her husband.

Brakeman CoinThe second coin in the series debuted in 2015 and features Canada’s headless brakeman. In one image, the dark train tunnel is suddenly illuminated by the bright glow of a lantern as an otherworldly figure emerges before the viewer, dressed in a railway uniform from 1928. Chillingly, the brakeman appears without a head, with two small, glowing orbs that create the illusion of eyes peering out towards the viewer. When the coin is tilted to the other side, the light suddenly goes out, leaving the viewer alone in the darkness with this shadowy presence, as the ill-fated brakeman continues his eternal walk along the train tracks.

Outside the Waterfront Station, situated at the western end of Gastown, Vancouver, the ghost of a rail worker is sometimes seen on rainy nights. In 1928, the unfortunate brakeman, Hub Clark, was killed while he was making repairs in the rail yard. He slipped on the wet tracks and was knocked unconscious. Horrifically, a passenger train came along and ran him over, decapitating him. Since then, some have reported seeing the headless brakeman roaming the tracks, his lantern glowing in his hand. Others say they’ve seen him in different parts of Gastown. Does he think he’s still on the job or, even worse, is the poor man looking for his lost head?

Bell Island CoinThe final 2016 coin in the series tells the myth of Bell Island. The coin features the glow of a hand-held lantern providing the only light for one anxious young man, who is making his way through the marshes near Dobbin’s Gardens. The first image finds the young man nervously looking over his shoulder, as behind him, an ethereal female figure dressed in white appears to hover over him. Tilting the coin to the other side reveals a frightening transformation: the ghost’s youthful appearance has suddenly aged while the facial features and hands are twisted in a terrifying manner!

Dobbin’s Garden on Bell Island is home, supposedly, to the “Bell Island hag.” This legend dates back to the Second World War, when German U-boats attacked the island. The story goes that a group of German sailors had secretly landed on the island to resupply their U-boat with the help of local sympathizers.An unfortunate woman came upon the scene and was dragged into the marsh and killed. Locals, fearing a fairy trick, ignored her cries for help, and her restless spirit is said to still plague the site. Witnesses have described what initially looks like a woman in white walking up from the marsh after sunset.“As the thing gets closer, the colour starts to go gray, and then the thing falls to its knees and starts to crawl on all fours like a dog,” Crane says.The creature’s “wormed-out face” and foul, sulfuric smell then knock out the unfortunate spectator.

Skull coins struck by Lichtenstein’s Coin Invest Trust for the Republic of Palau have proved highly popular. The Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead – is a Mexican holiday that is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world. Celebrated at the end of October the iconic skull or calavera makeup based on the famous La Catrina skeleton adorns many faces and is nowadays prominently featured in pop culture and art.

The Mexican Day of the Dead celebration is similar to other societies’ observances of a time to honor the dead. The Spanish tradition, for instance, includes festivals and parades, as well as gatherings of families at cemeteries to pray for their deceased loved ones at the end of the day. People go to cemeteries to be with the souls of the departed and build private altars containing the favorite foods and beverages, as well as photos and memorabilia, of the departed. The intent is to encourage visits by the souls, so the souls will hear the prayers and the comments of the living directed to them. Celebrations can take a humorous tone, as celebrants remember funny events and anecdotes about the departed.

Zombucks is an apocalyptic inspired series by the Provident Mint. The undead collection has 10 historical figures and coin designs that fall victim to the zombie apocalypse. The coins are produced in silver and copper bullion and proof versions. The coins include: the saint, dying eagle, slayed dollar, starving liberty, feast dollar, murk diem, the barber, american zombuff, morgue anne, and walker.

The Texas-based company tapped into the horror genre vein, replacing the dollar sign with a Z and employing futuristic dates on the rounds, suggesting a Zombie apocalypse in the not-too-distant future (2017 to 2019 dates appear on the rounds). The reverse of each round features a zombie-splattered biohazard symbol, warning the world of a dreadful new era.

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This post is apart of our 13 days of Halloween series. Checkout our other spooky posts: